Hi all, first time poster, long time reader.
We camped in France last year ( 2 adults and 3 kids)and hada great time. We booked all our places in advance as we'd heard about how booked up all sites get in August. I remember speaking to a guy who said they never book anywhere and just turn up. He said if you avoided the coast there is always space on sites.
I'm thinking of finding a middle way of phoning ahead to get a space on a site but not booking anything in advance apart from our first stay. I'd really appreciate the views of experienced campers on this. Thanks :-)
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If you're going peak weeks, mid-July to mid-August, and you want a particular site then it would make sense to book. If you don't mind 'which' site, then take your chances.
If you're going outside the peak weeks but still in the school holidays, then you'll generally find a pitch even on the most popular sites - but not always, particularly in the 'shoulder' weeks.
If you're going outside the school holidays then you never need book at all.
I think the phoning ahead is a good option - with a 'second reserve' site, just in case!
My son and his friends found a pitch at L'Airotel d'Ocean at Lacanau Ocean (a very popular site) last Thursday - even though the website stated that the site was 'Complet'. They just turned up, after cycling down from Cherbourg over the previous week, camping along the way!!!!!!
Alot of places have availability this year as it's quiet,some campings are letting mobil-homes by the night rather than the week and emplacements are no problem to find.In the gite sector some owners are reporting a 30%-40% reduction in bookings this year.
We came back last week from Spain and the first time we haven't booked at sites to use on the way and had no problems with spaces at the two sites that we arrived at at about 6 pm and very friendly staff at both sites.
------------- Sue and Adie
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
No need to book, as I've said on another post just yesterday and many times in the past, I've never advance booked a French camp site in 45 years. There are simply so many sites in France
I like the name - Cary will say I should have chosen that one or perhaps Big Idle Tim!!!)
We do what you suggest as your second option, ie, phone ahead on the day. As we have a 7.2m long 'van, which is considered long on many Continental sites, we phone ahead on the day we hope to arrive.
We feel that gives us the best of both worlds - freedom to stop and go as we like without the annoyance of going out of our way to a specific site and finding it full.
We carry several camping guide books, Alan Rogers, Caravan Europe, ASCI and have Archies and Alan Rogers POIs on the Sat Nav which we use to locate likely sites.
To illustrate from current experience I am currently typing this sitting in on our pitch at Camping Galeb, Omis Croatia 100 metres from an azure sea - in view. On the way down we stopped at 2 German sites at Camping Buttleweg, Dahn and Camping Panorama Harras with views of the Chiemsee from our pitch. We then moved on to Camping Bled in Slovenia, adjacent to Lake Bled for 6 nights before arriving here a few days ago.
We did have a hiccough at Camping Adriatic which was our first port of call in Croatia. The available pitches were small, difficult to access and unshaded although we had been promised a big pitch when we phoned ahead. We gave Adriatic a miss and travelled on another 30 miles to our second choice - Camping Galeb
We have been using the phone-ahead-on-the-day method VERY SUCCESSFULLY for a number of years and used it travelling to Italy and Spain as well as France. France has a particularly wide choice because of the many municipal sites.
If all else fails there are the motorway aires. Although this is frowned upon as insecure by many we have stayed on motorway aires in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium,Italy and Britain! without any problems. An advantage is it's free other than in rip-off Britain.
As we are both teachers all the above experience takes place during the peak times of late July and August.
We have gone to France for the last 4 years and have never booked a site yet. We are off to France again in about 10 days time, for about 3 weeks and we have again not booked anywhere. We just have a rough idea what region we want to be and then when we get somewhere near we just look at one of our many books and decide on a campsite, Touch wood, we have never been turned away yet and have probably stayed in over 30 sites in France in the 4 years as we usually only stay a few days at each site and we always go about the sametime of year.
Hope this helps and have a nice holiday.
Sandra.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We always book ahead, I can't think of any thing worse than being turned away and then driving from site to site, I want to know where I'm heading!
But then I'm a bit of a worrier, like to be all organised, if we didn't book would give me a nervous break down!
Hello! We're hoping to get away next Saturday, to arrive around 5.30 pm at Calais and find a municipal a short drive away for an overnight stay. Unfortunately we can't get there on an earlier crossing.
Having never used municipals before, (a) what are the chances of getting a pitch on Saturday 14th, and (b) what time would you recommend to arrive to give ourselves a chance?
Quote: Originally posted by Wibbers on 06/8/2010
Hello! We're hoping to get away next Saturday, to arrive around 5.30 pm at Calais and find a municipal a short drive away for an overnight stay. Unfortunately we can't get there on an earlier crossing.
Having never used municipals before, (a) what are the chances of getting a pitch on Saturday 14th, and (b) what time would you recommend to arrive to give ourselves a chance?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Don't think you'd have any problems getting a pitch as long as you arrive before the site shuts.
Personally would put a good hour between myself and Calais before pitching.
I don't know what direction you're heading in, but I'd agree that you should put a few miles between yourself and Calais. The French Municipal sites are usually OK and a reasonable price. You shouldn't have too much problem.
------------- Two drifters off to see the world.
I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We`ve always just headed off with guide books (sometimes the laptop too) and when we know roughly where we`re headed we`ve generally phoned ahead, not always though depending on dates and area etc, to make sure there`s places for our rather large twin axle.
Once at Christmas (skiing holiday) a few years back, our first choice was full but they phoned round and let us know of a near by site with places available.
A couple of times in summer we`ve arrived very late at a site in the South of France (Les Tournels, Ramatuelle)and waited in an overnight area before being given a pitch early the next day. Quite a few sites have such an area and I have never known anyone turned away from these areas at night and camp site owners are very helpful in suggesting alternative sites.
I couldn`t stand the stress of having to be at a particular site on a particular day, I`d worry that we`d be late and loose the booking, upset folk etc. But each to their own. Enjoy your holiday whatever you decide
Yes, I had planned to try and get at least an hour south of Calais (Somme Estuary?) but was a bit concerned that it might be getting a bit late turning up towards 7 pm.
Is it still the case in France that the first two weeks of August are holiday time and the last two weeks are pretty quiet?
Quote: Originally posted by Wibbers on 07/8/2010
Yes, I had planned to try and get at least an hour south of Calais (Somme Estuary?) but was a bit concerned that it might be getting a bit late turning up towards 7 pm.
Is it still the case in France that the first two weeks of August are holiday time and the last two weeks are pretty quiet?
Yes it is still the case. The French Holidays are over by about 14/15th August so you should have no problem finding a pitch after that. The Dutch also all go home then. Mass exit!!!
I always book the first night in France particularly if arriving late, then you don't need to worry.
We often use the municipal at Wimereux for our first/last night, guardien is very obliging. I phoned him last week to ask what the latest time we could arrive was, as we were thinking of arriving on the 20.00 LD in Boulogne. He said it would be OK to arrive by 21.00 at the latest, as he really closed at 8. Nice man!
We've just returned from the Carnac area (south Brittany), and all campsites in the area were fully booked. We saw people beng turned away every day at the site we used.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Not booking sites..yes or no?
